Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Evolution is the control of development by ecology. It
is of importance to understand how gene expression differentiation is
associated with adaptive phenotypic variability in natural populations. The
expression level of a gene, rather than the sequence of the protein product,
can often determine phenotypes that contribute to natural variation. We have
presented a novel classification scheme of mutations and epimutations (i.e.
gene expression changes), enabling the analysis of mutation and epimutation
load. We also study the role of mRNA stability on gene expression
differentiation and evolution. We have initiated a large scale study of
transcriptome responses to herbivore damage in Arabidopsis .
Recent publications
Stenĝien, H. K. & Stephan, W. 2005. Global mRNA
stability is not associated with levels of gene expression in Drosophila
melanogaster but shows a negative correlation with codon bias. Journal
of Molecular Evolution , in press. (pdf)
Stenĝien, H. K. & Pedersen, B. 2005. Mutation and
epimutation load in haploid and diploid life forms. Journal of Theoretical
Biology 233: 119-126. (pdf)
International collaborators
Prof. Wolfgang Stephan,
Prof. Jon Ċgren,
Available undergraduate and graduate
projects